Damascus Spring

With Syria coming back on the world stage with fury and force, one has to wonder what the French president Nicolas Sarkozy seems to think of dictators and thugs running the show in the Middle-East. After a red-carpet reception at the Elysee palace and full review of the French honor guards in Paris by President Bashar Assad of Syria, Sarkozy declared in joint news conference that Syria “plays an essential role” in the Middle-East and described France’s revived talks with Syria as “clear-sighted, frank, and loyal.”! Only a month ago President George W. Bush and President Sarkozy in a joint statement issued by the French presidential palace called on Syria to “establish full diplomatic relations” with Lebanon, playing down the perception of diverging views between the two countries on Syria. Today, while President Bush continues to uphold the principle of sanctioning the Damascus leader and his close circle of cronies by having the U.S department of Treasury issuing another directive aga